2012-01-04

Reading the Highland Villager #52

[The Villager sits on a St Paul stoop.]

[Basically the problem is that the best source of Saint Paul streets & sidewalks news is the Highland Villager, a very fine and historical newspaper. This wouldn't be a problem, except that its not available online. You basically have to live in or frequent Saint Paul to read it. That's why I'm reading the Highland Villager so that you don't have to. Until this newspaper goes online, sidewalk information must be set free.]

Total # of articles about sidewalks: 13Total # of articles about sidewalks written by Jane McClure: 11

Headline: City bids tearful farewell to Ford and its workers; last of 6 million vehicles rolled off the line Dec. 16Reporter: Jane McClure

Short short version: Bit on the closing of the Ford plant. Not much new. Article emphasizes history of plant, difficulty of demolishing & cleaning up the site for re-use. There were 800 workers there, but only 125 of the remaining workers are "full status" UAW members (and thus eligible for full layoff benefits).

Short short version: Some unexpected TIF money leftover from some un-specified TIF pot will allow a smaller than expected increase in property taxes for the city. Instead of 6.5%, the increase will be 4.98%. That's still less than the 5.5% that the mayor wanted.

Headline: City Council adopts two-pronged program for improving snowplowing; smaller plows and new procedures aim to clear the streets curb to curbReporter: Jane McClure

Short short version: The city will be using "salt brine" more often. This is applied BEFORE snow falls. The city will tow more cars. The city will keep snow off of new University Avenue sidewalks. The city will buy six smaller and more nimble snowplows, and three "other vehicles." These smaller plows will be better able to plow things like bike lanes. Last winter snowplows got stuck in culs-de-sac. The average St Paul snowplow weights 36,000 lbs and is 18 years old. [Yikes! Time for a New Years resolution diet. -Ed.]

Headline: Solar fight flares up on river roadReporter: Jane McClure

Short short version: Two people living on Summit Avenue want to install solar panels on land they thought was theirs but was actually owned by the city. There was a meeting about it. [Oopsies!]

Headline: Ramsey County Board approves leaner budget for 2012; County levy to rise by 1.7$, school levy to increase by 3.6%Reporter: Jane McClure

Short short version: Haiographic bit on now-ex-CM Harris (Highland Park). Includes details like: he has an older brother named Mike who held the seat before him, he "wants to spend more time with his family," he owns Elvis memorabilia, he is "a great guy." [Also, he hates bike sharrows. -Ed.]

Short short version: Article begins w/ provocative query, "when is a beer tent not a beer tent." Article is about how the political NIMBY football that is the University of St Thomas's application for an outdoor liquor license will be up for a vote. Article includes this great exchange about the intricacies of beer tents: "Westemeter said there was one tent at homecoming by the beer garden area. 'It housed gambling,' she said. 'It was bingo,' Hennes shot back." [This reads like a Christopher Guest movie. -Ed.]

Short short version: The [tiny, cute, ex-Rondo Avenue, now-I-94-proximate] VFW hall on Concordia Avenue didn't have proper insurance and had a DJ playing without a license. It is one of the only African-American VFWs in the Upper Midwest. It has "a checkered past," including when someone was murdered outside of it in 2008. [Holy shit. Crack down on them! Good thing the government never bulldozed St Paul's main Black neighborhood and replaced it with a huge, polluting freeway or anything. -Ed.]

Headline: Car wash makes a splash on its return to West 7th StreetReporter: Dave Page

Short short version: Soapy Joe's Car Wash is open!

Headline: Time runs out on Milton Mall's request for a sign varianceReporter: Jane McClure

Short short version: There is a fight over who can have signs on or near the building that houses the new Anthropologie store. Salut Bar Americain and Park Dental are having trouble getting signs placed on the building. [Good thing we replaced the locally-owned coffee shop & other businesses with a giant über-yuppie bougie chain retailer with $500 "authentic" skirts. -Ed.]

Short short version: The field on the South side of Cretin-Derham Hall [the huge Joe Mauer-themed catholic school] will get new artificial turf, lights, etc. Some neighbors don't like all this sports business.

Short short version: An "advisory design committee" of the [I DON'T KNOW!] will look at plans for the ex-fuel tank site near Victoria Park on West 7th Street. CM Thune is concerned that it will prove politically divisive.